Selfish protests on brink of extinction
THEY chanted and danced. Some threw themselves to the ground remaining motionless while others glued their hands to various buildings. Tents were pitched, flags were waved and drums and whistles were beaten and blown.
Yes, it was just another day in the alternative and often loopy world of Extinction Rebellion which, if they had their way, would see us all back in the days of sitting by camp fires, wearing clothes made of hemp, riding bicycles and living off stinging nettles and almond milk.
However, this time as some of the nationwide protests were about to start winding up, events took a very different and rather sinister turn.
Firstly, in London an ambulance trying to get a patient to St Thomas’ Hospital was forced to make a U-turn as it couldn’t get across one of the few bridges that mayor Sadiq Khan actually allowed to remain open.
Demonstrators tried to blame the police, saying it was their presence that caused the road to be blocked which blithely ignored the salient fact that the police were only there to ensure protesters didn’t pitch tents and chain themselves to the bridge to lock it down for good.
Once the video proved that, their next fatuous excuse was they always clear a lane for emergency vehicles as if this was an act of divine benevo benevolence from this rag-t rag-tag alliance of an anarchists, Greens, M Marxists and other troublemakers.
When did they get to decide who can use a bridge? This failed to get that much publicit ity, but their other tot totally unjustifiable actio actions did although, perver perversely, if they’d had their hi way they wouldn’t have. As their tactics had been pretty much blown apart by a far more
robust response from the Met than in previous demos, they went for the nuclear option and tried to shut down the free press by blockading print works, ensuring newspapers couldn’t be got out to the trucks that ferry them across the land.
They blockaded printing presses in Broxbourne in Hertfordshire and in Knowsley, near Liverpool, although they were greatly assisted by the Hertfordshire force using the lamest tactics since the Keystone Cops.
Initially six officers were sent to Broxbourne to confront 100 protesters yet that ineptness was overshadowed by one senior officer, Assistant Chief Constable Owen Weatherill, saying his officers were “committed to facilitating peaceful protest”.
If you needed proof that so many
police have gone from being a force to a virtue-signalling farce, this was it. How can it ever be justified that any business can be shut down by illegal tactics? And seeking to gag the press is the sort of thing you normally see in Russia and North Korea.
PROTESTERS sought to justify this censorship by claiming the media doesn’t give climate change enough coverage and sometimes, in their view, what is featured is far too negative. This is the stuff of the Spanish Inquisition; you must abide by their decree and ditch any other allegiance or belief and any dissent is simply quashed.
They accuse media organisations of a “deadly silence” but these actions
show it’s them that are in the silencing business. Hence you couldn’t get many of your newspapers last weekend. This bone-headed stunt looks to have spectacularly backfired as some of Extinction Rebellion’s millionaire backers are questioning whether they should continue to support them.
Rich campaigners in the US set up a Climate Emergency Fund and raised £250,000 but now one, philanthropist Trevor Neilson, has said this demo was “not a helpful strategy” and hints that his funding is over.
Here’s a suggestion for these idiots. If you’re all so opposed to the great range of newspapers this nation enjoys, why not try to set up your own and see how well it sells. Only I wouldn’t bother buying in too much paper or ink...